It's pretty hard to crack open a skull and you don't need a tremendous force to the head to render someone unconscious. I can see why there wouldn't have been blood.
Since we've heard rumors that his house smelled like bleach and the mop was possibly wet, there was probably *something* left behind to clean up. Whether blood or "other" body fluids remains to be seen.
He did connect himself to the wash bucket though on one of his TV interviews. He said he knew that Laci had washed the floor because HE emptied the bucket when he came home from fishing.
Form today's ModestoBee October 26th,titled,Peterson Stage Set".
link
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/7648390p-8554158c.html The public's first real look at evidence against accused double-murderer Scott Peterson is expected Wednesday, when prosecutors begin laying out a legal case that has been under wraps for 10 months.
"Everything will be a revelation to us," said Ruth Jones, a criminal law professor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and a former prosecutor. "This case is unique in that sense."
Peterson's preliminary hearing, which likely will last five days, could demonstrate the strength of the prosecution's case and outline the possible trial.
The hearing that begins Wednesday is to determine whether there is enough evidence to try Peterson in the deaths of his 27-year-old wife, Laci, and their son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
It's unclear how much evidence the prosecution will unveil at the hearing, because it's relatively easy to have a defendant held for trial. For that reason, the defense rarely calls witnesses, protecting them from cross-examination.
But this case is different, legal observers said, pointing to widespread public scrutiny that has influenced legal tactics and might affect the trial.
"There are two battles going on here," San Francisco Deputy District Attorney James Hammer said. "The legal battle and the PR battle."
In the legal battle, attorneys are poised to spar over an array of evidence the defense wants kept out of court, including information from wiretaps, electronic tracking devices, DNA testing and scent-tracking dogs.
The judge also is to hear a defense argument that a potentially key piece of evidence -- a single hair found attached to a pair of needle-nose pliers in Peterson's boat -- likely was "altered" while in police possession.
Prosecutors contend that the hair simply broke inside an evidence bag.
The hair could be a critical piece of physical evidence linking Laci Peterson to the boat her husband said he took fishing on Christmas Eve, the day she was reported missing.
The defense's challenge of the evidence signals a wider tactic of trying to show that investigators acted improperly, echoing the O.J. Simpson murder trial, legal observers said. A jury acquitted the former football star in 1995 of killing his ex-wife and her friend.
"It's a very important strategy," said Professor George Bisharat, a criminal procedure specialist at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. "You
really saw the potential impact in the sense that there was law enforcement wrongdoing in the O.J. Simpson case."
Frey heightens interest
Like the Simpson case, the disappearance of Laci Peterson, a pretty substitute teacher with deep dimples and a captivating smile, has become staple fare for cable television, supermarket tabloids and newspapers on both coasts.
A Fresno massage therapist stoked interest in January when she announced she had been romantically involved with Scott Peterson before his wife disappeared.
Police said Amber Frey, 28, cooperated with their investigation. Partial phone records show she called Peterson dozens of times while investigators tapped his phones, often calling a detective immediately after hanging up with Peterson.
Frey's testimony is among the most anticipated, although prosecutors and her attorney have refused to say whether she will testify at the preliminary hearing.
In addition to tapping his phones, police searched Peterson's home twice and tracked his movements, although they refused to name him as a suspect or rule him out.
For months, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement personnel scoured fields, reservoirs and waterways from the Sierra foothills to San Francisco Bay for Laci Peterson.
In April, passers-by discovered Laci Peterson's decomposed body and that of her son about a mile apart along the eastern shore of the bay, several miles from where Peterson had said he gone fishing.
He was arrested days later outside the Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla sporting a goatee and lightened hair. He had more than $10,000 cash with him, a law enforcement source said.
The 30-year-old fertilizer salesman has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail in Stanislaus County Jail.
Defense attorneys maintain that police ignored information that pointed to the "actual perpetrators," focusing exclusively on Peterson from "Day One."
Cults, a mystery van, gangs
Speculation has swirled around reports of a suspicious van in the neighborhood, sa-tanic cults and a Fresno inmate who said Peterson talked to neo-Nazi gang members about kidnapping and murdering his wife.
Judges have sealed most of the normally public documents in the case, first in an attempt to protect an ongoing investigation, then citing Peterson's right to a fair trial. Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami imposed a gag order that extended from attorneys to potential witnesses to court employees.
The moves largely have thwarted glimpses into the case. But Wednesday, the shroud is expected to lift, at least partly.
"Yes, there is some circumstantial evidence: He was a bad husband, had a mistress -- which may have given him a motive -- but what evidence do you have that links him to the crime?" said Jones, the criminal law professor. "What evidence do you have that links him to the date, time and place and perhaps manner of the killing?"
It remains to be seen how much of that information Senior Deputy District Attorneys Rick Distaso and Dave Harris will unveil.
"Over 99 percent of the time, the judge decides there is enough evidence to proceed to trial," said Hammer, the San Francisco prosecutor. "It's a very low standard."
Because the standard of proof at a preliminary hearing is so low, prosecutors often reveal only what they need, shielding some witnesses from potentially grueling cross-examination until the trial, Bisharat said.
California law also allows police investigators to testify at preliminary hearings in place of witnesses they interviewed. That allows the information to be brought out in court without exposing the witness.
"Testifying is hard, particularly for members of the family who have to testify to emotional topics," Jones said. "You try not to have them go through that again."
Holding back some witnesses also removes the possibility that they will testify differently at the preliminary hearing than at the trial.
"There will always be discrepancies that will be exploited, inconsistencies that will be made to diminish the credibility of the witness at trial," Bisharat said.
The defense "almost never" puts on witnesses at a preliminary hearing, protecting them from cross-examination and preserving a degree of surprise, Bisharat said.
Since the accused likely will be held for trial, defense attorneys typically have little incentive to present evidence and reveal part of their strategy.
But traditional approaches might not apply in this case.
Court of public opinion
With national TV and print media poised to disseminate most elements of the preliminary hearing online and in broadcasts from outside the courthouse, some experts said it would damage Peterson if his attorneys did not put up a vigorous defense.
Lead defense attorney Mark Geragos had sought to close the hearing to the public, a request Girolami and a state appeals court rejected.
Now the defense appears poised to try to damage investigators on the stand, contending that they installed tracking devices incorrectly, withheld information from a judge when they requested search warrants and monitored calls between Peterson and his attorney.
"The thing for them is to take away the near-certainty of guilt," Hammer said. "One of the main defense goals is to put on other witnesses that the investigators ignored. Not just putting them on, but putting that information before the investigators and embarrassing them. It's both that he's not guilty and that the police rushed to judgment."
The defense team in the O.J. Simpson double-murder murder trial followed a similar line, producing witnesses at the preliminary hearing to counter massive negative publicity, Jones said.
Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton said in June that part of the reason he wanted a preliminary hearing was to debunk rumors and speculation about the case.
"The longer this drags on, the more stories get bandied about out there," Brazelton said, "By putting on a prelim, they're going to see some stuff that might open some eyes."
Hearing's side effects
But opting for a preliminary hearing rather than indicting Peterson through a closed grand jury proceeding could have side effects for the prosecution.
"The only advantage is the court of public opinion, and maybe to vindicate their reputation. Their reputation has been attacked," Hammer said. "(Prosecutors) just want to blast them with their evidence. You can do it, but say goodbye to the thought of keeping (the trial) in Modesto."
By laying out its case in an open hearing, prosecutors are ensuring that a trial would be moved because potential jurors would be tainted by hearing too much about the case, Hammer said.
Jones countered that the Simpson trial was held in Los Angeles County after prosecutors opted for a preliminary hearing.
Geragos has said he will ask to move the trial. That motion will likely come as the trial nears, allowing both sides to get a more accurate assessment of potential juror bias.
Prosecutors initially said they would oppose a motion to move the trial outside Stanislaus County, but they since have indicated they might support a move if it were clear Peterson couldn't get a fair trial in Modesto.
The prosecution's decision could also reflect a determination that the odds already are high that a judge would move the trial, Bisharat said.
"If the granting of such a motion is likely anyway, why not take this benefit now?" he said.
In rulings and comments from the bench, Girolami has indicated that he would prefer not to move the trial, but he has left open the possibility.
Still, the breadth of the media coverage could rule out a large group of potential jurors anywhere in the state, Hammer said.
"You end up kicking off well-read, well-informed people," he said. "You'll have people who don't read, who don't talk to their friends about the news. You have to ask yourself, 'Who are those people?' Hermits and bums."
Thanks for that answer about amount of blood that one could expect,from a blow in the head. Let's hear it for the RN's. Yea! :)